The starting point

The starting point

Friday, 3 July 2020

2/7/20 Off to Exmouth




      We left Denham and headed north , having a night at a rest area 80 kms from Carnarvon on the way . Carnarvon was a fuel and food stop for us and we continued on to Lyndon River Rest Area for another night . 
     One stop we find ourselves doing each time we come this way is Gladstone Lookout , today it was our lunch stop , which gave me 10 mins to get the drone out . This shot is looking to Gladstone Beach & Camp 

 

     This is the lookout area at the back .

 

    It get's a bit windy up here .

 

     Not much further up the road is Wooramel Roadhouse and then Wooramel Station . We could see some raised dust as we were getting closer and found we had a small dust storm happening close to the station - there seemed to be a climate bubble happening here - almost like it's been in drought for a long time , very little vegetation , certainly no ground cover to hold the topsoil . A few kilometres up the road and we were clear of the dust again .


     Coral Bay was booked out so we couldn't stay there , so we went up to Exmouth and spent a week at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park . It's a great location to access Cape Range NP when you can't get into there either .
      We had plenty of time to check things out , so did a few different things this time . There's a 4wd track that takes you up onto the ranges and does go all the way to Learmonth Airport . Being nice and warm now , we were a little slow off the mark and didn't get going till 10:30 am . By the time we'd gone into the NP , found the track and let our tyres down it was near enough to 11:15 . The track up to the top of the range was rocky and rough and slow going -1st & 2nd gear in Low Range 4wd for most of the way up . 
      This is an aerial view of the track from the top of the range 


     After getting past the top , the track started to turn into mainly a sandy track , with a few sections of rock to slow you right down again .

 

     Reaching a road going off to the right , we took it and found our way down through water courses ( dry of course ) and over sand dunes , then found 3 rocky hills beside each other . The hills were made up of limestone , spinifex and small trees .


     This is what the limestone looks like - with some holes big enough to lose you leg in !


      On our walk up to the top we disturbed one of the locals - a reasonable size red kangaroo .


        We came back to the water course to have some lunch , and were surprised to find this . If you've been to Cape Range before you'd know that there's not many trees of this size anywhere , so this was a rare find .


     We ate lunch at the back of the ute - it makes a great table - and noticed this tiny flower near our feet . It's only about 4cm off the ground  .


      This is the view back down the range to the ocean & Ningaloo Reef .


      Another day we went down to Pilgramunna in the NP , plenty of different colours here . 




 

     If you thought that was good , check out the views from above , they are stunning .





     On our way in another day we stopped at Neds Campground & beach - not a bad spot to camp beside .


      Snorkelling was on offer a few days   

  

     Dave & Sue , who we met at Bonneys during the lockdown , arrived and stayed for a few days . We took them around Cape Range and down to Yardie Creek , this is Yardie Creek Gorge .


     Another day we headed into town to the Ningaloo Discovery Centre . There's a display about the cyclone that ripped Exmouth apart 1997 , very scary !!
     There's also a huge tank containing a lot of fish , and several smaller ones - a great display . This particular fish got our interest - we'd seen a few of these that had been caught the day before at the park where they were being cleaned & cut up . They are Coronation Trout , and are a beautiful fish .


     These trees are in flower at the moment and have been planted in all the carpark around the Discovery Centre .










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